Page 6 of Wings of Lies
Her worst fears come to life.
Never, not since I’d grown into my powers, had it covered me so fully. And never had the white mixed with such a deep purple.
Everything throbbed—my head, my skin, the crushing pressure on my chest. I fixed my wide, blurry eyes on my mom, needing her help. Her eyes flashed purple, and I waited for the calm. She tried again, and as the pinks of her cheeks paled, I knew she couldn’t penetrate my flames.
“Let it go,” she whispered.
My powers consumed my clothing, bedding, and headboard. Then it jumped to the wall behind me. The wood and fabric burned swiftly, but so did the brick.
Shock pierced my power and quenched the flames on my skin, but not the flames burning our house. I scurried off my bed. The moment my power left me, my mom touched my bare shoulder, sending a seed of calm into my pounding chest.
Things happened fast after that. She wrapped me in my night robe and hurried me from my room, steering me toward the kitchen.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, running to her room. Then she returned from the smokey hall, coughing and carrying two duffle bags.
It was déjà vu all over again.
“Let’s go. Hurry.” She herded me to our front door.
“I don’t understand.” My voice wobbled.
It took us three years to find this home, to stop bouncing from place to place. And it took five months for my built-up restlessness to ruin it—all because I wanted to go into town, all because of my anger over things I didn’t have and wanted.
I should’ve known when I felt my anger that the amulet was depleted. This was all my fault.
My mom touched me again. The same calm tenderly softened the sharp bitterness of my mind.
We rushed out of our small, burning farmhouse and jumped into the stolen, beat-up, green VW Bug.
She held out her hand. “Give me it.”
I unclasped the amulet and placed it in her outstretched palm. A lovely purple light surrounded the circular crystal and its intricate swirls of silver, changing the lavender back to the deep elderberry purple.
I glanced back. Our bushes burned, white smoke billowing into chemical gray. It almost looked like a normal house fire if you ignored the color of the consuming flames and how quickly they ate away at the structure. Half of the house was completely gone, and the other half caved in on itself.
The rising smoke was a beacon in the sky.
I stared into my palms, searching for my power and the stupid emotions that did this. A power I could no longer feel as the shock overwhelmed the weakening calm of her gift. Which she remedied by placing the amulet in my palms.
“Put it on, Lucy.”
I stared at it, knowing what would happen when I put it on. I desired it and, for the first time, questioned it.
“Do you ever think it’d be better if I didn’t wear it? If you stopped calming me?” She tamed me when my lows took me too deep, preventing me from experiencing the full spectrum and force of my emotions, like I did today. She calmed my rebellious desires.
Her forehead creased. “We don’t have the luxury of training you.” And by training, she meant my powers because every day for the past five months, we had trained physically, which was why, as a thirteen-year-old girl, I was unusually toned. Although my strength wasn’t even close to her caliber. “The rune he forced on you was the worst and best thing that could’ve happened to us. It helped keep us off his radar. But now…” She peered at the rear-view mirror. “This can’t happen again, Lucille Chiara.” I flinched at the use of my full name. The soothing of her power did nothing to temper my guilt. “We only have the amulet now to keep your emotions on lockdown and your powers at bay whenever I’m not around. We need to be extra careful.”
My mom was right, and I didn’t want to give up the calm. It was so much easier than feeling all the horror he branded me with.
“Especially now that your power has grown,” she said, shooting me a meaningful look before returning to the winding road. “In more ways than one.” It was a soft mutter, not meant for me. More secrets. But I didn’t care to press.
My mom would take care of everything. She always did.
Fiddling with the chain, I placed it around my neck, letting the calm take over. My body relaxed. It was better this way—safer, peaceful. As my adrenaline seeped away, the drain came. After so long without using my powers, I had forgotten about the consequences. In retribution, my eyelids weakened, and heaviness filled me.
Blinking,I awoke to a point of blinding light and a dull throb in my head. I pressed a palm to my temple as my other hand frantically searched my neck for my necklace. I didn’t remember what it looked like, who gave it to me, or why I needed it, only that I did.
The bitter smell of iron nagged me from my hunt. Shielding my eyes from the light, I sat up, facing the door and the melted handle I had forgotten I destroyed. Dizzy, I cast a wary gaze at my flameless hands.
